Study tracks death rates at hospitals

Deborah Allard

Tuesday

Aug 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 26, 2008 at 8:55 PM

Patients have a new tool to compare their local hospitals to other hospitals in the state and nation. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released the mortality rates of every hospital in the United States for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia.

Patients have a new tool to compare their local hospitals to other hospitals in the state and nation.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released the mortality rates of every hospital in the United States for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia.

According to the data, none of the hospitals in Massachusetts or Rhode Island ranked below the national rate.

Southcoast Hospitals Group, which runs Charlton Memorial Hospital, ranked better than the national average in heart failure deaths, at 7.7 percent. The national rate is 11.1 percent.
Southcoast was tied with Milford Regional Medical Center in Milford for the lowest heart failure rate statewide, and ranked better than Brigham & Womens’ in Boston, which came in at 7.8 percent.

“Less than 1 percent of all hospitals in the Unites States have this outstanding mortality rate, and Southcoast is one of them,” said Patrick Gannon, vice president of Quality and Safety for Southcoast Hospitals Group. “This is attributed to the top-notch care provided by Southcoast’s physicians and nurses at each of our three hospital sites and supported by our care coordination and home care services.”

Gannon said Southcoast helps keep patients safe even after they are discharged from the hospital by coordinating care with the Visiting Nurse Association.

The formula used to compile the mortality data focused on deaths that occurred either in the hospital or within 30 days of being released from the hospital, since those deaths might be attributable to care received in the hospital.

The “risk-adjustment” formula took into account differences in patient mix at each hospital.
Southcoast ranked better than the nation in heart attack and pneumonia death rates — 13.7 percent and 10.1 percent respectively — compared to the national rate of 16 percent for heart attack and 11.4 percent for pneumonia.

St. Anne’s Hospital ranked above the national rate in heart attack deaths at 17.3 percent, and below the average in both heart failure and pneumonia deaths at 8.8 percent and 9.1 percent respectively.

The motality data was first released to USA Today, which has created an interactive graphic on its Web site for users to compare hospitals at www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-08-20-hospital-death-rates_N.htm.

Data focusing on other areas of hospital services are available at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.